


[Fandom stats] Relationship categories in different versions of Sherlock Holmes

by toastystats (destinationtoast)



Series: Fandom Stats [12]
Category: Elementary (TV), Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes (Downey films), Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2019-09-19 23:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17011452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destinationtoast/pseuds/toastystats
Summary: Relative amounts of M/M, F/M, etc. in different Sherlockian fandoms on AO3 (as of June 2013).





	[Fandom stats] Relationship categories in different versions of Sherlock Holmes

**Author's Note:**

> Originally [posted on Tumblr](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/53614729039/i-was-curious-about-whether-there-was-about-the). 
> 
> The post says that the analysis was initially motivated by questions about the Holmes/Watson ship, but this analysis applies to all fanworks in these fandoms, not limited to that ship.

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipPUOJnFxbc2S_t6pdh7TqUdOdYNyTAEQeF69NRr?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

I was curious about whether there was about the same amount of Holmes/Watson shipping going on in other Sherlock adaptations -- especially  _Elementary_.  (Based on previous analyses, I'm going to assume the vast majority of M/M shipping in all of these versions except  _Elementary_ is Holmes/Watson.)

X axis lists the number of fics in each fandom under the fandom name.  Fics that are crossovers between multiple of these fandoms are counted in both categories.

Y axis is percentage of total AO3 fics featuring each category -- they add up to more than 100%, because some fics have multiple tags.

 _Elementary:_ The only adaptation (out of these four) where the majority of fics are not Holmes/Watson shipping fics.  (I know a lot of the "Gen" fics actually feature shipping, but even if we assume the F/F and M/M fics are all genderswapped Holmes/Watson, and if we assume all the categories are mutually exclusive -- both of which are untrue and lead to overcounting the amount of shipping -- we would see, at most, 51% of the fics being Holmes/Watson fics.  So it's probably pretty safe to say that the majority of the _Elementary_ works are not Holmes/Watson).  Note that this is also the smallest fandom -- in part because it's the youngest; it'll be interesting to see whether the ratios here change over time.

 _RDJ films:_ The slashiest Sherlock Holmes-related fandom on AO3, beating out even _Sherlock_  by a bit.  Also the adaptation with the fewest Gen fics -- I suspect this may be because these movies involved more action and less intricate plotting to build off of.

 _ACD canon fics_ (Not actually an adaptation, despite the chart name!): almost as slashy as those for the  _Sherlock_ and the RDJ films -- not sure if this says more about the Holmes/Watson dynamic or about the prevalence of slash on AO3.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome, but I’m in the middle of a massive fandom stats backup due to Tumblr purge, so I may be slow to respond.


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